BOOK THREE SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Okay, so I’ve been thinking a lot about Ghoms, as I’m sure we all have. And there’s a lot of good theories out there, but I think we’re thinking too small with this. That is- thinking about the train itself is too small. There is an entirely wasteland around this train. A whole world we know nothing about.

How did this train get here? Why is it in a place like this? Where is the train even going? There are so many questions we have unanswered, but I think I have a vague idea that fits what a Ghom might actually be.

In the recent AMA, Owen Dennis had stated that we aren’t prepared to learn what Ghoms are, which means it’s likely something that no one has quite predicted yet. I’m going to go over what we know about these creatures.

• They attack both passengers and denizens. They have tried to attack Tulip, Lake Alan Dracula and Mace, Simon and Samantha, and Grace and Simon.

This is important to note, because while I do think the “Ghoms hunt down passengers with high numbers” is a good one, it wouldn’t explain why they seem to attack seemingly any being related to the train.

• Creatures turned into Ghoms (at the very least at the very beginning) seem to be somewhat conscious of what they’re doing. See: Atticus trying to stop himself from killing Tulip. If he hadn’t tried to fight it she would’ve died.

• Ghoms are more commonly found in the wasteland, not only that, but buried far out in the wasteland.

I find this particular fact interesting because in Book Two, Lake tried to leave the train by walking out into the wasteland. However, being a being of the train, she started to get dragged back in range when she got too far. For simplicities sake, I’ll refer to that point as the world barrier. The thing about the world barrier is that Ghoms reside outside of it- we can clearly see that the Ghoms that chased her popped out of the ground from beyond where she was able to walk.

• When a Ghom does kill a passenger, they glow, then explode. I still don’t have a solid idea on what happens to it, but I’ll explain an idea later.

• The way Ghoms are made, as far as we know, is via the cannons that Amelia repurposed.

• When Tulip shot Atticus with the corgi orb, he didn’t immediately turn back. He only turned back when One-One returned to the conductor’s spot. In which, he jumped out of it like he was shedding skin.

One thing I want to comment on with the note above is that if Ghoms were maybe something like corrupted code, I don’t think that One-One would be able to fix it. And, even if he could fix it, it doesn’t explain why he won’t just destroy all of them and stop them from threatening his passengers.

Okay, with all of these points down, I will state my theory, then explain.

The train is something we all know to be morally ambiguous, it’s a machine, not a person. And while one could argue the train has sentience, that’s not what we’re here to talk about. What I want to talk about is not the train, but the world surrounding it, and the enemies that the train has.

I believe that Ghoms were once enemies of the train- whether the people of this planet or simply being opposed to the train and what it’s doing. Taking random, troubles people from their homes and holding them hostage until they fix an issue the train has decided they have? I can’t imagine that if people were aware of the train that they’d let this happen without any kind of fight.

In The Past Car, we learn that the canons that Amelia repurposed we’re actually at the front of the train. I think that’s a really telling detail, though I’ve never seen anyone bring it up since we first learned about it. Why else would the train have weapons at the very front?

When Tulip finds the cannon, One-One says: “You found the monster cannon! Now we can make more! Give it...” to which Tulip tells him that no, she’s going to use this to get Atticus back. Now, One-One didn’t see Atticus get shot, but he immediately knows what it is. I guess we can assume he understood the context Amelia’s tape, or Tulip told him what happened, but then he says he wants to make more. Knowing he’s the conductor, I can’t help but wonder if he maybe wanted to turn Amelia into a Ghom if he couldn’t get his spot back.

So, that begs the question, if Ghoms are enemies turned monster: why? Why what? Why a lot of things.

Why not just kill them outright?: Well, I for one thing Ghoms hiding outside the train in the wasteland make a great defensive mechanism against people who might dare try getting to the train from beyond world border. Not just that, but it stops passengers from wandering too far off. Furthermore, the train is about learning lessons, and turning into a Ghom would teach anyone a lesson. Not just said person turned into the creature, but anyone around them when it happens.

Atticus went right to attack Tulip when he was first turned. Yes, he fought back, but barely. The train doesn’t have many offensive measures- it just appears to be the canons and those big ol’ wheels if you can even count them. Turning your enemies into weapons to fight against themselves is very productive.

Why make them so deadly if they’re going to be around passengers?: I honestly don’t think that One-One intended them to be so dangerous to passengers, but it’s also probably something he doesn’t feel the need to fix either. Like I said, it’s a great deterrent for leaving the train. And, if a passenger does become a large threat, the Ghoms seems to be pretty good about taking care of that, huh? I mean, that Ghom had so many kids to chose from outside and it went right for Simon. I think that says something.

Ghoms have a lot of purposes! They run fast, they can fly, their method of killing is quick, but not so quick that if a passenger gets in trouble they can’t be saved (Tulip).

One-One does seems to have control over these beings, after all he seemed to have changed Atticus back. The corgi orb didn’t work, he would’ve just transformed like he did before, it was One-One that brought him back. So, that means he likely has the power to bring all Ghoms back, but he doesn’t. Though, the fact that he has the power is also interesting. You see, I like to imagine Ghoms kind of like prisoners- and One-One can release them at any time. It’s a whole new level of “trapping someone to force them to learn something.”

So, that brings me to what happened when that Ghom killed Simon. I think we can agree it did something to help the train- this is the part of the theory I’m most iffy on, but it’s possible that getting rid of a threat on the train freed it?

We don’t know if people can turn into Ghoms, we don’t know the lifespan of Ghoms, we know so so little about Ghoms and I’m pretty sure this theory might get debunked in the future. And it probably reads like a mess. But I hope it gets you thinking outside of the box! Please, let me know your own theories, comments, etc. I’m excited to hear what people think.